


Duke Crocker: psych history

by Hagar



Series: Hagar's Haven Meta [3]
Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Attachment and Abandonment Issues, C-PTSD, Episode: s01e10 The Hand You're Dealt, Episode: s02e09 Lockdown, Episode: s02e11 Business As Usual, Episode: s02e12 Sins of the Fathers, Episode: s03e03 The Farmer, Episode: s03e07 Lay Me Down, Episode: s03e10 Burned, Episode: s04e04 Lost and Found, Episode: s04e08 Crush, Episode: s04e09 William, Episode: s04e13 The Lighthouse, Episode: s05e04 Much Ado About Mara, Episode: s05e08 Exposure, Episode: s05e12 Chemistry, Gen, Meta, PTSD, Trauma, abusive childhood, survival sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-02-27 19:11:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2703284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/pseuds/Hagar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Early life as alluded to in canon, and canon events contextualized and set on a best-approximation timeline.</p><p>Trauma laundry list now through s05e25 <i>Now</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rabbitt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabbitt/gifts).



> Ch.1 through s05e12 _Chemistry_. Ch.2 through s05e25 _Now_.

###### Pre-Canon

 **Early life.** This section compiled off episodes 2.10 Business As Usual, 2.13 Sins Of The Fathers and 5.09 Morbidity.

Simon Crocker says and Duke confirms that he was “A horrible father and a worse husband”. Duke also makes some statements creating the impression that he had some caretaking duties with regards to his father. As for his (yet unnamed mother), we know that she’d left at some point before 1983 but with Duke older enough to have recollections of his parents’ relationship; she returned after Simon’s death, did not actively parent at all, and left for good once Duke turned 18.

Parental neglect is a given here, from both parents. Some degree of verbal or physical abuse from Simon towards his wife and child is likely. Given what we know of what became of Duke’s mother (drug addict funding her addiction with sex work), it’s likely she also came from abuse. Significantly, exposure to abuse between caretakers is trauma for the child in and of itself, even if the child had not been abused themselves by their caretakers. Though many abused spouses will protect their child from the abusive partner, it’s not uncommon for the abused party (or similar relationship) to either “sacrifice” or abuse the child, in order to restore some sense of control to themselves. Indeed, we know that when Duke’s mother removed herself from the Crocker home, she abandoned Duke there.

What we’re looking at here is not PTSD as ordinarily described. PTSD as ordinarily described stems from an event (or a set of events) the experience of which is characterized above all else by helplessness and a violation of some basic trust, previously taken for granted. A physical assault (including sexual) may be a precipitating event for PTSD, as may a natural disaster or a chronic exposure to gore or human suffering in the course of some jobs. There is a sub-type of PTSD which is typical to situations of captivity, in which the person cannot escape and is dependent on their captors. “Captivity” includes not just prisoners of war and hostages, but also children (and sometimes adults) in abusive homes. A common name for this sub-type of PTSD is Complex PTSD, or C-PTSD. (A good reference is the book _Trauma and Recovery_ by Judith Lewis Herman.) One of the hallmarks of C-PTSD is that it warps not just behavior but also personality. Ordinarily, PTSD symptoms are along the axes of intrusion (vivid memories, constantly thinking about the traumatic event), hyperarousal (anxiety, hypervigilance, difficulty sleeping) and avoidance (anxiety again). C-PTSD always shapes (or re-shapes) a person’s understanding of how the human world works, their place in it and what they can expect.

Both of Duke’s parents had made it clear that what Duke is for is to be used, and that any attention or care are contingent upon that. Duke’s presumed role in caring for Simon is what’s known as adultification ([link 1](http://psychetc.hubpages.com/hub/Adultification), [link 2](http://www.recognizeabuse.com/nvc/emotional-abuse/adultifying/)). Children who had been adultified tend to show accelerated skill maturation coupled with a blunting of relationship maturation: they appear to be more adult than their age, but their actual emotional patterns are incongruent with that. Seemingly unpredictable anger and difficulties with trust are also common. And that’s just Simon; that’s discounting that Duke had had to perform much of his own caretaking since age 6 or 8, or the tacit messages internalized from his mother’s behavior.

Importantly, Duke seems to have insight into these effects. For example, he’s aware that he’s vulnerable to manipulation through requests for help (again, common in adultified children, specifically sub-type parentification - they learn to “earn” attention/companionship/affection through performing care for others and often internalize the role of a carer), and he’s consistently shown attempting to negotiate his help-drive while keeping himself safe. He also shows high sensitivity to attempt by others to instrumentalize him, and vehemently rejects such attempts. This is far from perfect; episode 3.03 The Farmer provides an example both of Duke trying to protect himself from instrumentalization, and yielding to it to a degree.

 **Survival sex.** Though it’s never openly stated, it stands to reason that Duke had engaged in survival sex (sex in exchange for shelter, food and other essentials of survival) in his mid to late teens. This is suggested by basically _any_ reference to Duke’s high school years, and by the way female persons who had known him then approach him as an adult: with an assumption that he’s “easy” and available. I would like to point to the similarities between this pattern and the early life adultification: service and performance of care in exchange for the essentials of survival - affection being included among the latter.

 **Adult relationships.** Really the only romantic/sexual relationship we we know of, pre-canon, is Evi. Evi is also part of the criminal world; she’s posited as more of a con-artist. Indeed, when we see her in canon she’s _conning Duke._ Duke’s reception of her suggests she has a record of that.

(In contrast, Duke seems to have - or have had - some honest friendships with men he’d known as children and since childhood, such as the McShaw and the Driscoll brothers. Those relationships seem genuinely fond, without the volatility of his relationship with Nathan, but they also seem to be that much looser.)

###### 2\. Canon Events

This is a list of select traumatic canon events, contextualized in the above and anchored to the calendar best as I was able.

 **Vanessa** was killed in the first half of July 2010. Vanessa had been Duke’s babysitter as a child, a maternal figure; when he meets her as an adult he becomes attracted to her. The way this relates to his early life history should be obvious. Vanessa then dies in his arms. In the months following that Duke becomes somewhat paranoid. Specifically, he obsesses over the last thing Vanessa had left him: an omen of his death. Some parallels exist between this and Garland’s death approximately a week after Vanessa, bequeathing Nathan with “Keep [Haven] Together”.

This obsession runs approximately 10 weeks, the **duration of S2** \- during which Duke is the subject of significant manipulation from one of Haven’s militias, the Rev’s people. During his period Nathan (the person Duke has the most consistent attachment to) consistently dismisses the weight and import of Duke’s concerns. (Nathan is discussed elsewhere; this essay is about Duke.) When the truth about the Crocker Curse comes out, Nathan rejects Duke so vehemently as to acquire the tattoo that would put him on the “approved list” to kill Duke. The other event capping these two months is the reveal that Evi, Duke’s (ex-)wife, had performed one last con on him, siding with the Rev to manipulate him into becoming a human weapon. Evi’s death (again in Duke’s arms) had almost certainly activated his Trouble; we’ll be comparing this with Mara’s actions in episode 5.12 Chemistry later.

Rejection (Nathan), instrumentalization (Evi, the Rev, Nathan) - then instrumentalization again. In early S3 Audrey enlists Duke as her ally in secret-keeping from Nathan then exposes him to **Harry Nix** ’s atrocities and brings him to the dying Harry Nix without even once being honest about her motivations. (She could’ve arguably achieved the same ends in a more honest ways; whether or not that was Mara’s latent influence does not matter here.) And just like with Evi - presumably just like any girl he’d slept with in high school - Duke is perfectly aware of what Audrey is doing, is perfectly aware that it’s not all right, calls her on it and then fails to walk away.

Having been instrumentalized, treated as a weapon and used for murder by one of two people he’s most vulnerable to happens in early September, approximately 2.5mo after Vanessa’s death. In early November (episode 2.10 Burned), Duke is quite literally turned into a toy by a girl _exactly_ because she liked him. In Duke’s personal timeline, it’s only 3 weeks after that when a boy he was fond of and tried to care for **turned him into a puppet** and attempted to use his body for murder (episode 4.04 Lost  & Found). Said boy had also used Duke’s body to kiss Jennifer. Whether or not Duke was attracted to her, this was not a consensual act on his part - and Jennifer completely misses this point when she uses it as pretext to broach a conversation which results in her moving in with Duke.

In Duke’s timeline, it’s just over 3mo from Vanessa being killed to Jennifer moving in, with more death (Evi), a handful of betrayals (Evi, Audrey), two mind-rapes and extra nonconsensual (on Duke’s part) murders thrown in. Another forced killing follows within a week of the second mind-rape, as **Wade** goes on a murder spree which culminates in a coded-as-sexual assault on Jennifer. Duke expects no sympathy over Wade’s death, and he’s not exactly proven wrong. This is further complicated by **William’s paranoia ‘Trouble’** mere days after Wade’s death, during which Duke needs to deal with everybody else’s paranoias attaching to him in the worst ways. Even knowing they weren’t in their right minds, that’s going to shake a person - even disregarding the three months Duke had had before that point.

Duke gets at least as much resentment over the loss of the instrumental value of the **Crocker Curse** than sympathy for the circumstances of Wade’s death, if not more. Within 7-10 days of killing Wade, Duke is pushed into re-assuming the Crocker Curse - indeed, he’s pushed into asking for it and having to insist on it. And in being re-Troubled, Duke catches the first glimpse of Mara through Audrey: the knowledge that she did in fact enjoy re-Troubling him.

Instrumentalization. Rejection.

Speaking of **Mara**. This is the woman who felt so in control that she’d had no need to fight literal metal chains. How bruised and battered would she be if she fought? She didn’t; she didn’t feel the need to - chained up, she didn’t feel out of control. She had no need to: set up as a prisoner, she still managed to get the best of a man who’d been explicitly trained both in interrogation and in resisting interrogation. (Dwight; Army Rangers have some HUMINT training on them as well as the usual ‘how to handle oneself in captivity’ training). That level of skill on her part should have been terrifying, but Duke’s not the only one who’s had a rough time - and so he’d been left alone (abandoned) with that woman, told to stay out of the way (rejected), contacted only when there was need for him (used) including forcing him to bear himself to Mara (instrumentalization).

In Duke’s personal timeline, it’s been only about four months from Vanessa dying in his arms to Mara mailing him the toe she’d let him watch her paint.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> List of all canonical instances of Duke being dehumanized, contextualized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For explanation of dates, see the [timeline](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5425589)

  * 2010 May: raped by Helena, nearly dies of it, and is made a father through it (s03e05)
  * 2010 June: Audrey’s ploy against the telepath (this seems mundane, but we’re establishing a pattern here), which involved Duke stripping down to his underwear for reasons that amount to amusement rather than necessity (s01e11)
  * July 2010: the Rev’s manipulations through S2; and specifically considering Duke a weapon to be honed and used or else an instance of a series, rather than an individual person; and holding key elements of Duke’s identity hostage in exchange for cooperation obedience and service
  * July 2010: Evi’s lies and use of Duke, taking advantage of his affection for and trust of her and her privileged position as an intimate ([ex-]wife); in some countries, any sex she’s had with him under these false pretenses is legally rape
  * August 2010: involuntary manslaughter of Kyle, after the Rev’s plan of coercing Duke into multiple homicides failed; due to the nature of the Crocker Curse, also counts as non-consensual drug use (s02e12)
  * August 2010: Nathan obtaining the Guard tattoo for the explicit purpose of being eligible to kill Duke, reaffirming the Rev’s treatment of Duke as an obedient weapon (s02e12)
  * September 2010: Audrey deceiving and emotionally blackmailing (read: coercing) Duke into committing a homicide, which again is also non-consensual drug use (this is the weaponization version of experiencing orgasm as part of rape) (s03e03)
  * September 2010: Nathan holding Duke at fault and rejecting him for Audrey’s actions in the previous episode, and these actions into which she’d coerced Duke (s03e04)
  * November 2010: used as a plaything by Ginger (s03e10)
  * June 2011: used as a puppet, including but not limited to committing sexual acts (kissing Jennifer) and committing homicide (with the usual forced drug use clause) (s04e05); due to Duke's 6 months skip, this occurs only 2 weeks (by his experience) after having been Ginger's toy
  * June 2011: Jennifer ascribing the puppetmaster’s sexual actions towards her to Duke's intentions (s04e05)
  * June 2011: homicide of Wade (s04e07)
  * June 2011: treated as means to an end by Nathan and Audrey, who berate him when for failing to comply with their needs and themselves fail to notice his distress over having killed Wade (s04e08)
  * June 2011: Dwight being disappointed and upset that the Crocker Curse (over which he considered Duke mass murder waiting to happen) is gone
  * June 2011: Duke pressured under risk of mass deaths and Audrey’s moral corruption to voluntarily re-accept the Crocker Curse (s04e12)
  * June 2011: Duke commits the homicide for which he re-accepted the family curse (s04e13)
  * June 2011: Duke denied the right to have or express multiple emotions including grief in order to shut down Troubles he’s expressing (s05e01-s05e03)
  * July 2011: ordered by Audrey to make himself psychologically vulnerable to a known abuser capable of defeating trained interrogators (s05e08)
  * July 2011: manipulated and coerced by Mara into committing homicide (among other things) (s05e10), facilitated by 
  * June-July 2011: Audrey, Nathan treating Duke instrumentally, setting him aside when not in use, and berating him for responding to that
  * July 2011: Mara rapes Duke (…if you don’t think this is rape you need to check your definition of “consent”, because this ain’t it) (s05e11)
  * July 2011: Mara reveals her weaponization and instrumental use of Duke (s05e12)
  * July 2011: Duke opts for suicide, is prevented (s05e13)
  * August 2011: While in Haven, held responsible (more often flat-out blamed) for the results of his victimization by Mara
  * August 2011: Audrey manipulates Duke into homicide (specifically, of a teenager Duke is fond of and feels responsible for) using the exact same lines that Mara had in s05e10 (s05e22)
  * August 2011: Croatoan uses Duke's vulnerability to gain control of him (s05e23)
  * August 2011: Croatoan manipulates Duke into multiple homicides (with the usual drug use clause) (s05e23-s05e25)
  * August 2011: Suicide by Nathan (s05e25)




End file.
